Overview With very few exceptions, 1994 was an excellent year. The world economy finally put a lingering recession behind it, and a vigorous recovery, accompanied by low inflation, was in train. Led by an unexpected double-digit growth in world trade volumes, output expanded rapidly, with manufacturing, buoyed by export-led growth, outperforming gross domestic product (GDP) in most economies. Manufacturing increased its production by 4.6% in 1994, a welcome recovery from two years of recession and stagnation. (See Table I and Table IV.) In the industrialized countries, which had been the worst affected, growth was 4.4%; in the less developed economies, where the slowdown had been barely perceptible, growth picked up to over 5%.
Table I. Annual Average Rates of Growth of Manufacturing
Output, 1980-94
Percent
Area 1980-86 1987-91 1992 1993 1994
World{1} 2.0 1.9 -1.0 0.1 4.6
Industrial countries 1.7 1.5 -1.8 -0.8 4.4
Less industrialized countries 4.3 3.9 3.5 4.5...